Das Odeion im Artemision von Ephesos

The main sections of this publication were accepted as a dissertation by the Institut für Baugeschichte at the Technical University of Berlin (chs. 1–4, 5.1–4, 8–11) in 2014. Lilli Zabrana has worked at the Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (OeAW, Austrian Academy of Sciences) since 2010. The volume contains contributions by 10 additional specialists. Zabrana was tasked by Sabine Ladstätter, the director of the Austrian Archaeological Institute and excavation director in Ephesus, to process the results of the excavations of the odeion in the area of the Artemision, which took place 2009–11. As originally conceived, the excavations sought to explore the Roman period of the sacred precinct of the Artemis Temple and to understand the architectural and functional relationship between the temple and other structures in the surrounding temenos. It was in 2011 that the so-called grandstand (Tribüne; since Anton Bammer) mentioned in older publications was identified as an odeion, a deeply buried building surviving in a severely damaged state; the visible parts of the building are the substructures of the cavea. Since the owner of the orchard in which the structure is located (see table 7.1) refused further access to the area in 2012, it was not possible to carry out the planned and necessary conservation of the structure.Chapter 1 briefly describes the new research in the Artemision of the Roman period, surveys the information that can be gleaned from written sources regarding the Artemision in Ephesus of the Roman period, and comments on descriptions of the Artemision by travelers from the 16th to the 19th century. Chapter 2 describes the history of excavations and research into the Artemision from John Turtle Wood to Dieter Knibbe (pp. 23–37). Chapter 3 (Baubefund und Baubeschreibung) provides a description of the ruins of the odeion (pp. 39–53). Chapter 4 discusses material and technique (pp. 55–60); ch. 5 the interior: floors, marble wall paneling, wall paintings, architectural ornaments, sculpture (pp. 61–90); ch. 6 the archaeological field research from 2009 to 2011 (pp. 91–106). The long ch. 7 describes in detail the objects that were found: ceramics (with a catalog of 461 items, pp. 124–73, tables 50–91), glass (20 items), small finds (7 items), inscriptions (8 items), coins (8 items), and animals (2,500 fragments) (pp. 107–201). Chapter 8 describes the building phases and the chronology of the odeion (pp. 203–6); ch. 9 provides a reconstruction and typology of the building (pp. 207–24); ch. 10 describes measures to secure the structure (pp. 225–27); and ch. 11 provides summaries in German, English, and Turkish (pp. 229–40). The volume concludes with bibliography, abbreviations, authors of the contributions to the volume, composers of the plans, photographers, tables (including color photographs), and plans. The volume is handsomely produced, as is to be expected of publications by the OeAW. I have one minor quibble: it would be helpful if future volumes in the Forschungen in Ephesos series would provide a bibliography of all volumes published in the series; the website of the OeAW at https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at shows only the currently available volumes.Located 175 m southwest of the Artemis Temple, the odeion measured ca. 40 × 24 m, with nine barrel-vaulted chambers on three sides, a semicircular cavea, and a total of 14 rows of seats resulting in a capacity of ca. 1,000 seats; the raised stage had a 80-cm-tall front; the orchestra was paved with opus sectile flooring, the colored marbles being mostly of local or regional origin. The ceramic finds establish the construction date for the odeion in the Artemision in the second half of the 1st century AD; the building was abandoned in the 5th/6th century, piles of ashes indicating destruction by fire, which destroyed the wooden roof. The imperial odeion in the Artemis Temple complex can now be identified as the performance site of the musical contests of the sacred games for Artemis (Artemisia) in Ephesus. It can be assumed that the convocations and conferences of the various representative bodies and councils of the Artemision, including those of the priestly council, on occasion even the council (boulē) of the city, took place in the odeion.The discovery and description of the odeion in the temenos of the Artemis Temple in Ephesus is of some significance for NT scholars. First, we learn further details about the religious, administrative, and agonistic realities in the city in which Paul proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ and established a community of Jesus followers between 52 and 55 AD. It is possible that the odeion was constructed during this period, or that plans were discussed for its construction during that time. Poets, rhetors, choraules, comedians, and citharodes competed in the odeion (pp. 17–19, 216), which provides background for Paul’s negative evaluation of the demands of contemporary rhetoric (1 Cor 1–4) and for his concern that believers who have a hymn, a lesson, a revelation (1 Cor 14:26) should all contribute to the meetings of the believers. Second, the rarity of an odeion built inside the precinct of a temple points to the wealth of the Artemis Temple as well as its independence of the city. “With the Odeion, the sanctuary displays the availability of its own infrastructure for the performance of specific events and diverse gatherings” (p. 236; cf. p. 216–17). This reality helps explain the concerns of local guilds involved in the religious and economic life of the Artemision described in Acts 19. An honorary inscription set up by the carpenters of the temple dedicated to P. Vedius Antoninus (IvE 3075; p. 18) suggests that there were specific guilds responsible for the maintenance of the numerous buildings inside the temenos of the Artemision. Third, the fact that the substructure forming the first chamber displays massive damage on its southern wall—the barrel-vaulted ceiling is heavily deformed at the crown, which indicates a static overload of the vault during construction (pp. 41–42, tables 104–5)—assumes, perhaps, a particular meaning in the context of Paul’s description of the significance of the foundation of a building in 1 Cor 3, a letter written in Ephesus

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